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The Dangers of Walking at Work

My team, The Rack Pack, has been training for the October 2009 Atlanta 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk for about two weeks now. Unfortunately, most of our walking is being done around the parking lots at work. We have a very large parking lot and it’s connected to the sister building next door. Four times around is roughly three miles. While the parking lot is a relatively safe place to walk with not much traffic, it does have its dangers, which I’ve listed below:

First and foremost are the people who lunch in their cars. What are they doing out there all alone during lunch? Having seen these people all over the parking lot, I have several theories as to why they are eating alone in their cars. The first, and most obvious, is that they are also taking a smoking break. County law states you must smoke at least 20 feet from the entrance to any public building. Lunch is a good time to do this. Second…they are taking a well deserved break from their crazy offices. I don’t have that problem but certainly have in the past. Enough said. The last reason I’ve ascertained is that they are closet binge eaters. These are the folks who are parked way out around the fringes of the parking lot, engines going, away from everyone else. I know what they’re doing!

The second danger, more obvious, are the people who get in their cars and don’t check before they back up. That’s only happened to me twice in two weeks, but some engines are so quiet you don’t notice the car is running!

Third, people careening into the parking lot from the road without slowing down quickly enough. You can get your ass run over if you don’t ALWAYS look before crossing those intersections!

And fourth, and the biggest danger by far, are the Canadian geese. They are EVERYWHERE. They lurk, just watching you. Who knows when they are going to start after you or start honking or pecking? The worst part though? Their POOP! It’s simply never ending! On the grass, on the sidewalks, all over the lot itself. And no matter how much rain or how much they clean it, there it is again.

So, there you have it, the inherent dangers of training for the 3-Day in a suburban office parking lot. While I’m thankful I have the parking lot and a team to walk with, Fridays at the park are a thing of beauty. Tomorrow is Friday…and another walk in the woods!